a.k.a. theVPO: Analysis and observation of Vermont politics from a liberal viewpoint

Oh hey look: another VTGOP climate change denier

Here’s a little compost sprinkled on your cornflakes, courtesy of one Eileen Rodgers, “communications director for the Burlington Republican Committee”:

Along with plotting to place wind turbines on 200 miles of ridge lines and scheming to occupy thousands of acres of our fields with solar panels, the central planners in Vermont are busying themselves with projects that are guaranteed to squeeze our cars off the roads.

There’s a whole lotta hate in that little paragraph, which is the kickoff of an opinion piece by Rodgers posted on VTDigger this morning. Plotting, scheming, central planners squeezing our cars off the roads.

So tell me, when exactly did Old Joe Stalin resurrect himself and take over Vermont?

In the guise of Bill McKibben, no less?

Climate change has been a very convenient phenomenon. It has given a sense of validity to all sorts of projects the big guys support. Energy from the wind and sun will take care of our electricity needs and our transportation needs will be met with … bicycles!!

Somehow I doubt that Ms. Rodgers wants to break up the big banks and Wall Street giants that almost wrecked the economy in 2008, or the WalMarts, Amazons and McDonalds doing their best to stifle local enterprise and keep wages criminally low.

No, the evil “big guys” are in the Global Climate Change Cabal, secret meetings every Tuesday night at McKibben’s house, BYO organic snacks and kombucha. Or you can attend the Burlington area meeting at Comrade Blittersdorf’s place. That’s where they’re hatching the big evil plot that Ms. Rodgers is warning us about: the North Avenue Corridor, a plan to shift North Avenue from four lanes (two in each direction) to two (one in each direction) plus a left-turn lane and — horrors!!! — a BIKE PATH.

I guess she sees this as the thin end of the wedge. From four to two with room for bikes, when we get used to that it’ll go from two to one, then one to zero, and bazinga: North Avenue is a six-lane bicycle expressway. Cars are banished to the unenlightened precincts of Williston and Colchester. Park ‘em at Skip Vallee’s gas station off Exit 15 and take the Bernie Sanders Trolley downtown.

But let’s wander on through the musty corridors of Ms. Rodgers’ imagination.

For whose purpose are these alternative energy and alternative transportation projects advanced? Certainly not for the benefit of the current Vermont homeowner or commuter. The same state and federal subsidies that go to fund projects that can’t make it on their own, are those payouts that make living in Vermont so expensive for the rest of us.

Okay, well, hm. First of all, if you want to complain about industries suckling on the public teat, you’d best start with the fossil fuel sector. According to the International Monetary Fund, fossil fuel companies benefit from global subsidies of $5.3 trillion a year. Yes, that’s trillion with a T. Five Point Three Thousand Thousand Million. The Guardian:

Nicholas Stern, an eminent climate economist at the London School of Economics, said: “This very important analysis shatters the myth that fossil fuels are cheap by showing just how huge their real costs are. There is no justification for these enormous subsidies for fossil fuels, which distort markets and damage economies, particularly in poorer countries.”

Somehow I doubt that Ms. Rodgers will be opinionating against Big Oil anytime soon. David Blittersdorf is, of course, a much greater burden on the common man. Why, I’ll bet he’s getting at least ten trillion a year!

Moving on to the conclusion of Rodgers’ screed:

Saying that you dislike the idea of the North Avenue Corridor pilot project should make you proud. It’s true there are an awful lot of other people who don’t share your common sense. But they are the same people who don’t want you to know that Vermont already emits less CO2 than any of the other 49 states … or that, by the way, there hasn’t been a smidgen of global warming over the past 18 years.

“Common sense,” hahahaha. “Less CO2 than any of the other states,” hohoho, we’ve got a tiny population and zero fossil fuel resources. And then the big finish: global warming is a myth!

Senator Inhofe would be proud.

And there, friends and neighbors, is another voice from your new, inclusive, moderate Vermont Republican Party. From an actual party officer, to boot. A specialist in communications, for Pete’s sake.

3 thoughts on “Oh hey look: another VTGOP climate change denier”

Seems to me the “whole lotta hate” in the climate change discussion was started by the political left who chose to call both scientists and lay people who disagree with them “climate change deniers”, a loaded term which harkens back to the term “Holocaust deniers” and was chosen to silence and mock the opposition. In the 1970’s the trendy weather cause of the leftists was “global cooling”. In the early 2000’s it was “global warming”. Now it is “climate change”. Sure, the climate changes. It changes all the time. It changed over 10,000 years ago when the North American glaciers melted — without cars or fossil fuels! The big question is not whether the weather is changing, but whether changes are caused by humans. And that is the sticking point of the whole debate. Scientists do not agree. There is an ongoing debate about what causes it, or whether it is a natural cycle. Sticking a VERY charged label on those who disagree with you is not helpful. I find it a big turnoff. I think it was Al Huxley who said, “All science is political.” This is a perfect example of his statement. I also think the whole global climate change agenda is about liberal elites controlling people and depriving them of their liberty and property rights.

Unfortunately for you, the label is accurate. The science is settled. The earth is warming, the climate is changing, and human activity is responsible for much of it. I don’t have to give credence to an ignorant, denialist point of view.